Tainted Darkness
by Neisha
Summary: EDITED- A close call with Naraku dramatically shifts the dynamics of Inuyasha's and Kagome's relationship. THIS IS NOT A RAPE FIC ! Rated M for mature themes.


Tainted Darkness

Neisha

Summary:

A close call with Naraku dramatically shifts the dynamics of Inuyasha's and Kagome's relationship.

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**Notes: PLEASE, PLEASE READ BEFORE CONTINUING!**

_This was originally posted here but was taken down by site admin and this is the heavily edited version._

_Another brief note: **This is in NO WAY a RAPE fic of any kind. I DO NOT WRITE THOSE**! Naraku uses his tentacles in so many of the anime that it stands to reason that if he truly wanted to see Kagome suffer, AND find the jewel shards in the process before Inuyasha's imminent return, this would be (in my mind anyway) the quickest way to go about it. There are several mentions throughout my story that Naraku did not or does not take the innocence of her body **AKA NOT RAPED** as well as more blatant statements saying the same. I just want to make sure that no one misses those mentions and misconstrues what this story is about, lol._

_I do not own, nor profit from the Inuyasha franchise in any way, nor do I profit from the writing of this fic- I merely enjoy writing, and love these characters._

_HUGS_ I MISS YOU ALL AND HOPE TO BE WRITING AGAIN SOON!_

_(See the end of the work for more notes)_

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Tainted Darkness

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Darkness.

It crowded her, clawed at her with invisible hands, and choked her with its searing violence. Only the blackness existed now. There was no room for hope, no exception for the heart that quickened its beat in its heroic struggle against death, a driving force that left her panting in the void that consumed her.

She reached out with her fingers, afraid of what they might encounter, yet desperate to feel something... anything! She could feel her blood growing colder, the beat of her heart fluttering as it slowed, the energy seeping from her limbs as her strength was stripped from her. Her power, once a sparkling shower of light, faded. The darkness closed in ever tighter; it invaded her skin, her mind... her sanity.

She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing sounded despite its echo in her head.

Tentacles wrapped around her, their putrid tips brushing over her breasts, her legs, her throat. Her skin crawled, burned with disgust, warm in only the places where her blood flowed and her tears fell, despite her desperate plea that they remain contained.

Pain erupted throughout her body.

Naraku's maniacal laugh brought the image of his sadistic smile. Kagome cringed when she felt his tongue drag slowly over her cheek, tasting the agony she could not voice. A shudder, a wheezing breath; she knew that in moments her heart would stop beating, but she wasn't prepared to open her arms to the peace death would bring her, no matter how tempting.

Then she heard it - the agonized cry of her name, the emotion that ravaged his voice. Inuyasha's heartbreak echoed clearly in the panicked tones that broke the reticence caging her in its merciless embrace. Desperation surged through her, the need to comfort him renewing her strength, reigniting the power that burned through her soul.

A spark- an impassioned plea to the jewel- raged through her.

Naraku's tortured scream sliced through the night. A flash of her power brought freedom, the malignance that had held her falling away, leaving her weightless, breathless... and alive. The miasma faded too; the evil essence shattered along with Naraku's hold, disappearing as suddenly as it had appeared.

And then she was falling.

She could feel the rush of the wind against her bloody skin, exhilaration tempering the pain when Inuyasha's warm arms closed around her. He settled gently on the ground, absorbing as much of the impact as he could before pulling her to his chest, his face buried in her hair.

She felt warmth on her neck, suspected his tears, but couldn't find her voice to convey her worry, her appreciation- her love. Inuyasha pulled her closer, careful not to hurt her damaged body, before placing what felt like a tender kiss just below her ear.

In the silence of his embrace she knew life. In the anguish that surrounded them she felt his love. Inuyasha would never say as much, but Kagome knew, because she loved him, too.

And then they were running…

Darkness closed in around her once more, and Kagome pressed closer to the heat of Inuyasha's body, crying silently in the warmth of his embrace.

"I'll find a spring," she heard him say, and she cried harder because she knew that no amount of bathing would wash the night's memory away. She could still feel Naraku's evil on her skin, still felt his tentacles crushing her, sliding over her body, touching her in forbidden places.

He'd stolen her naïve innocence, took from her the belief that good always overcame evil. He instilled doubt where once she'd been so sure that he could be destroyed, that good would prevail. But, while he had raped her mind, tainting the purity of her thoughts, and exposing her to his vile, sadistic nature, he hadn't taken the innocence of her body.

It was the only part of her that remained untouched by his malice. If Inuyasha hadn't found her when he had, though…

Kagome shivered in disgust, tears pooling and pouring over her blood-smeared cheeks. Sobs wracked her body, and Inuyasha's arms tightened around her, careful of her injuries. He whispered soothingly to her, though she couldn't make out the words. He ran endlessly, tirelessly it seemed. While desperate to gain as much distance from Naraku as possible, Kagome found herself pleading inaudibly for anything that would cleanse Naraku's scent from her skin now!

She could still smell it, the putrid stench of a thousand decaying things, rubbing along her flesh, cutting her, torturing her. She could still feel the probing tip of every tentacle, sliding over her hips, between her knees, tearing at her flesh until it was wet with her own blood. They invaded her blouse, dragging over and under the curve of her breasts, searching for the jewel shards she'd had the foresight to hide elsewhere.

She was brought from her thoughts when Inuyasha's running slowed to a jog, then a fast-paced walk. When Inuyasha set her on her feet, Kagome didn't hesitate. Stepping hurriedly toward the hot spring he'd brought her to, she reached to remove the torn bits of her clothing, her fingers shaking as she tried to make quick work of removing the material.

Inuyasha pulled his haori off, then his yukata, tossing both behind him hurriedly before reaching to catch her. "Let me help," he offered, righting her when she stumbled, his hands gentle as he steadied her.

Her fingers caught the buttons of her blouse, struggling to pull them free. Failing miserably at the task, and desperate to remove the tattered remnants of her school uniform, Kagome begged, "Take it off… all of it. Tear it... cut it with your claws. I don't care- just, please, get it all off of me!"

Inuyasha paused for a second in silent shock, before considering Kagome's desperate request. Her clothing bore evidence of the trauma she'd sustained: blood, gore, and Naraku's stench covered everything she wore. Her despair pulled at him, and the urge to protect her, to help her, pushed him past his shock. The scent of her blood tore at him, and the sight of it smeared all over her pushed him past his momentary hesitation.

Reaching forward, he used his claws to rip through her bloodied clothing. Carefully, methodically, Inuyasha worked, ignoring his embarrassment in favor of removing every last hint of Naraku's punishing embrace. Normal conditions forbade this sort of familiarity, but they'd been forced into a situation neither could have predicted would escalate to this extreme.

Kagome had been thrust into this era and forced to learn the ways of battle, to witness death and destruction on a level that most would find horrifying. And despite her best efforts, Inuyasha knew that she'd lost the naive innocence she'd arrived with. He knew because of the countless nights he'd heard her crying in the darkness as he struggled to block out the sobs that wracked her slender frame, forcing himself to allow Kagome her belief that no one knew of the torment she relived night after night.

Outwardly, Kagome remained positive for their group's sake, almost childlike in her belief that everything would work out for the best. Nevertheless, Inuyasha knew the torment she dealt with at night when the rest of their friends slept. Her torment became his, because he couldn't offer her the comfort he so desperately wanted to give her when not even the bulky sleeping bag she slept in could hide the way her body folded in on itself.

But while she could have left, she hadn't. Kagome had stayed, fighting an ever-evolving battle that escalated, year after year, without complaint, just to be at his side. And she'd suffered for that choice, despite his every effort to protect her. She'd been injured in their struggles, even kidnapped; but this time… this time was different, wasn't it.

Inuyasha wasn't so sure that Kagome would be able to muscle through after such an appalling ordeal. Not like she had before, anyway. Naraku had hurt her, had intentionally sought her out to break her down, to destroy her.

And the bastard just might have done it.

Inuyasha could see the darkening shadows in Kagome's eyes, and knew instinctively that the light she lived by, the spark that drove her, might have been extinguished for good this time.

Kagome tore at the remaining bits of cloth, ripping them from her skin as fast as Inuyasha sliced through them. She cared little about her modesty, thought nothing of being exposed to Inuyasha's gaze. She needed to remove the evidence of Naraku's abuse! She was desperate to forget…

Once upon a time, she'd thought the world a wondrous place, filled with hope and happiness. She'd even dreamed of white picket fences, and her wedding at one of the little white chapels she'd seen in so many of the western magazines her mother still collected.

She'd dreamed of hearing the pitter patter of tiny feet, and of innocent little voices calling her mommy, despite the countless newscasts telling of mysterious deaths, or unexplained murders on the darker side of Tokyo, or even Osaka. But, in her naivety, Kagome hadn't paid much attention to those broadcasts. Television was overrated anyhow, wasn't it?

They were only stories, embellished just enough to make for interesting television. At least, that's what she told herself. One never knew the validity of the reports televised in her era, though she still found herself praying for the lives lost after every telecast she'd been home to witness. But somehow, it had all seemed a million miles away, unable to bring its violence into her perfect little world.

Never once had she thought such evil would find her, never once thought it could touch her…

But this time, this place, had taken that naïve innocence away, hadn't it? It had stolen a piece of her that she could never get back. Here she saw death daily, witnessed its gruesome reality more times than she could count.

She relived their battles almost nightly in the nightmares that plagued her sleep. She'd wake crying, unable to shake off the images of maiming and death, unable to silence the pleading cries of countless children orphaned during one raging battle or another.

How many families had been torn apart by the monster responsible for her current condition? How many bodies lay dead or dying in the wake of her arrival in this time? And how many of those families blamed her for their losses, because she couldn't instantly harness the power that lay readily accessible just beneath her skin… skin that crawled with disgust, broken and bleeding, the end result of one evil bastard's desperate desire for unlimited power.

No, she wasn't innocent anymore, was she? And while she had somehow managed to retain her virginal status, she was no longer the fearless young girl she had once been. That girl had died tonight, in the embrace of an evil that sought only to claim the power she'd been born to protect.

Kagome closed her eyes against the burn of her tears, forcing herself to focus instead on getting into the water and washing the night's horrors away.

Every muscle screamed as she made her way into the spring. She paused when the water washed over the first laceration just over her ankle. Pain seared up her leg, and panic bubbled up hard and fast in response, rising ever higher until she was struggling to contain the raw emotion that suddenly consumed her once again. Hadn't she dealt with enough pain tonight! She had countless injuries to clean, and the pain was already close to unbearable!

Determined to wash the night's events from her skin, no matter the agony it caused, Kagome pushed forward. When she stumbled, Inuyasha's warm hands caught her, pulling her into his gentle embrace. She turned toward him, uncaring of her nudity, and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer still, welcoming the safety she found in his embrace.

She could feel the unsteady beat of his heart beneath the warmth of his bare skin, heard the ragged intake of his breath as he buried his face into her neck. She could feel his tears, hers too, as they stood there, nearly knee-deep in the spring that was meant to soothe the rioting emotion she struggled to keep caged within.

"I thought… I thought I'd lost you..." Inuyasha's voice faltered, his arms tightening almost painfully around her.

And she broke.

Like a burst dam releasing a flood of pent-up emotion, Kagome cried, clinging to Inuyasha's sturdy frame for the lifeline he was. Broken sobs tore through her as she relived the night's events.

They had finally made it back to the old well after an uneventful trek to and from a village up North rumored to have found a jewel shard. Deciding against waking Kaede as it was quite late, they'd opted instead for one more night under the stars, setting up camp just inside the tree line of Inuyasha's forest.

Their group had long ago settled into a rhythm, each going about their nightly routines quietly before eating dinner together and digging in for a long-deserved night of rest.

Several hours later she'd woken from sleep, her nightmare still vivid, the tears still wet on her cheeks. Though Kagome couldn't recall the specifics of the dream itself, she could still picture the scene in her mind:

Shippo's bloody body lay at her feet, Inuyasha's broken one wrapped protectively around him. Their lifeless eyes stared emptily up at her, their voices a haunting chorus of desperate cries and agonizing screams… Their heart wrenching cries forced her from her sleeping bag and out into the darkness of the surrounding trees where she could cry without waking the others, as she had done so many times in the past.

She didn't feel Naraku's presence, heard nothing in the forest to warn her of his approach. One minute she was struggling to contain her emotions, trying to outrun the nightmare that had chased her from the safety of camp, only to be forcefully yanked into another as a new darkness closed in around her.

She could still hear Inuyasha's voice -and the anguish within it- as he'd screamed her name in the night. It had been his desperation that she'd drawn strength from. It was his pain that had made her forget her own. Her love for him had ignited the jewel's power and the resulting explosion had set her free. If Inuyasha hadn't come when he had…

Refusing to think of what might have happened then, Kagome pressed closer to Inuyasha, until she could feel the beat of his heart on her breasts. She clung closer still when he picked her up, carrying her deeper into the hot-spring.

Step by step Inuyasha whispered to her, soothing words meant to distract her from the discomfort the water would no doubt bring. Despite his best efforts, however, pain ricocheted through her body, her every wound screaming in agony.

Carefully, Inuyasha set her on her feet, holding her steady in the darkness while she adjusted her footing and found her balance. Something brushed against her leg, seaweed she reasoned, but her heart and her mind flashed back to the feel of Naraku's tentacles wrapped around her, brushing over her breasts, her legs... Her skin crawled, and faintly, she could still hear Naraku's sinister laughter in the distance, could still feel his tongue drag slowly over her cheek-

"Please, get the feel of him off of me," Kagome pleaded softly, over and over and over, scrubbing at her arms until her skin was red and her breathing was ragged. But without her bag, and the soaps and medicines she carried in it, Inuyasha knew that they were far too limited on this side of the well to treat, or even clean her properly. Even Kaede was too far away. He'd taken Kagome further away than what was necessary, further even than he'd initially realized. But, Inuyasha refused to risk being found again. Kagome had been through enough already!

When he was absolutely certain Kagome had found her footing, Inuyasha dipped his hands into the steaming spring water. Cupping his hands together, and raising them from the spring's depths, Inuyasha struggled to pour as much of it as possible over Kagome's shoulders, down her arms and over her back. He repeated the process, over and over, his thoughts running rampant as he concentrated on cleaning the injuries on Kagome's neck, finding more and more as he moved over her shoulders, down her chest…

Thankfully the lacerations were shallow, though numerous, many swollen and angry red in color, others surrounded in varying shades of deep black, blue, and purple. Some had stopped bleeding while others still bled, shallow rivers of crimson that trailed down her neck and arms.

However, when his eyes met hers Inuyasha decided it was the shadows haunting her gaze that frightened him the most.

What had happened during those heart-stopping moments of Naraku's capture was still mostly unknown. He dreaded asking her, but knew in time he'd have to. It would haunt her forever if she didn't talk about it. He didn't want to be the one forcing her to relive it. And he wasn't so sure that he could bear hearing the details of his failure to protect her, either.

The hollowness in Kagome's gaze told him that being ripped to shreds would have been preferable to the unseen injuries her frightened gaze hinted at. Just the thought of what might have happened to her tore at him. It ripped into his soul, and Inuyasha swore he'd never forgive himself for not being there to stop it.

Steadily, Inuyasha cleaned Kagome's skin and hair, using the water and small amounts of sand to wash away all traces that son-of-a-bitch's capture had left on her flesh. Cuts and bruises marred her pale skin, and with each new discovery, Inuyasha's fury only grew. Naraku had gotten to her, slipping through their defenses as easily as the spring's water was sliding through his fingers.

That bastard wouldn't have gotten to her had he stayed at her side as he normally did.

But he'd sensed Kagome's unease as she slept, knew that she'd awaken, crying as she so often did these days. He didn't want her to risk the dangers of wandering to the river alone to wash away the evidence her nightmares were leaving behind, so he'd left to bring some water back to camp so it would be nearby should she wake as he'd suspected she might.

He just hadn't made it back in time with the water, nor in time to keep Naraku from very nearly killing her.

It was as if the bastard had simply appeared out if nowhere! There was no warning in the forest, no scent on the breeze... except that of Kagome's tears... and worse still, her blood. He'd screamed her name, frantic in his desperation to get her away from Naraku's tortuous embrace.

An instant later he'd heard Naraku's scream of pain, watched as the bastards miasma swirled then disappeared. Naraku vanished an instant later in a tidal wave of sparkling purity. And then Kagome was free, a shower of light surrounding her as she fell from the sky.

He'd stolen her away the moment she'd fallen from Naraku's punishing embrace, held her close while burrowing as far and as fast into the forest as he could, leaving Sango, Miroku, and the other villagers to deal with what was left of the half-monster who'd nearly destroyed her.

Normally, Inuyasha would have wanted to stay to make certain of Naraku's demise, but in that moment, his only concern had been for Kagome.

Damn it! He should have been there!

Kagome's hiss of pain pulled Inuyasha from his thoughts, and he paused long enough to press a tender kiss to her forehead in apology.

Once he finished tending to Kagome's injuries, Inuyasha pulled Kagome close. Finding an outcropping of rock, Inuyasha lifted her against him once more, shifting to sit on the rock shelving to allow the heat of the spring to loosen her strained muscles.

He'd thought to simply hold her near to encourage her to relax against him. But as he brought her close, his arm cradling her back as he bent to lift her into his lap, Kagome shifted unexpectedly.

She turned toward him, her knees on either side of his hips as she pushed into his embrace, her head tucked into the curve between his neck and shoulder. Instinctively, Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her, holding her steady as she got herself situated, pressing herself further into his embrace like that of a frightened child after a horrific nightmare.

He should have been stunned at the intimacy of this new position, but Inuyasha focused instead on holding her close. If Kagome needed him to hold her like this, he was more than willing to acquiesce. In truth, he needed to feel her, alive, in his arms, too. He needed this, just as much as she did.

Inuyasha's fingers combed soothingly through Kagome's tangled hair as they sat together in silence. He could hear the spring shifting easily around them, the wet splash of water lapping at the rock wall that formed the edge of the pool.

The forest seemed to breathe around them; branches swayed in the unseen breeze, and leaves shivered as they danced gently in the air, the sound soothing in its quiet peacefulness. Crickets sang softly in the distance, the sound coming and going as the night's creatures moved about in the surrounding forest.

He had no idea how long they stayed like that: wrapped around each other as the heat of the water slowly worked the tension out of Kagome's abused body.

Steam circled slowly around them, shifting only where their breath interrupted its path. And while the silence was a welcome, calming thing, Inuyasha worried that Kagome had been quiet for far too long. Despite the soothing ambience between them, he wanted to check on her, needed to hear her voice again.

Inuyasha shifted, encouraging Kagome to raise her head from its place on his shoulder, his gaze searching hers for some indication as to what else he could do to help chase her torment away.

Her gaze was still haunted, the ghosts in her eyes shifting like shadows beneath a dying sun. Inuyasha hated the pain he saw there. Leaning forward, he pressed a tender kiss to her forehead, his gaze questioning when he pulled back once more.

"How can I help…? What else can I do…?" Inuyasha whispered, his hand rising to cup her cheek. He couldn't find the right words, didn't want to remind her of the night's events by slipping up and saying something stupid. He'd ask. He'd have to… eventually. But not tonight. So he opted instead to wait. He'd wait an eternity if he had to! Especially if it meant she wouldn't suffer anymore.

They'd leave only when she was ready, and go wherever it was that she wanted to be.

He knew he'd never forget the tone of her voice when she finally responded. It was a broken whisper that begged him, "Make me forget?" The sound of her desperation was heartbreaking, like a wild animal's cry in the wilderness, lost, frightened and alone.

Inuyasha felt the sting of tears burn over his eyes, felt his heart tighten in response to her request. What could he possibly do to give her that? He'd give anything for someone to tell him how to chase the demons from her gaze, and erase the fear from her voice, because those things didn't belong there!

"No matter how many times I wash, I don't think I'll ever forget the feel of him." Kagome confided, tears gathering in her eyes, twin pools of heartbreak glistening in the moonlight.

"Please, help me forget?" Kagome pressed in closer. "Only you can make me forget," she begged, her voice heavy with pain and tears.

"Only you can erase his touch from my skin."

It was that plea, that desperate call for something, anything to erase her last memory that weakened his stoic resolve. Inuyasha wanted her, certainly, definitely, but not like this.

She wasn't supposed to be hurting, and he didn't want her to regret their union. He didn't want this to be nothing more than a bandage for the wounds Naraku had inflicted. Inuyasha wanted her- had wanted her for years- but this wasn't the way he'd dreamed it might happen.

She was the epitome of innocence, of purity - did she know what she was asking him for?

Kagome shifted and he instinctively reached to steady her. Of all the things he could give her, of all that he could do for her, this was what she wanted most?

But he still wasn't sure. When the reality of what they'd done became clear, would she hate him? Or worse... leave him?

"I love you," she breathed. "I need you, now more than ever."

Her words circled his mind, sinking in as swiftly as his shocked intake of breath, igniting his body like a lightning bolt to his nerves.

In her few words, his stoic sensibilities were forgotten. When Kagome pulled him into the first tentative kiss, Inuyasha's foundation shattered. Determined to show her what she meant to him, Inuyasha gave Kagome what she sought: erasure of an unwanted touch by one she could cherish, one that she wanted.

Carefully, lovingly, Inuyasha held her, his touch ghosting over her damaged skin, replacing evil's touch with a lover's tender caress. And while this wasn't how he'd ever envisioned their coming together would be, he knew, deep down, that they both wanted this, needed this.

Kagome's scent told him she was untouched, still innocent to the ways of men; it was the innocence of her mind, however, that had been shattered. Her body had not been used in that way, though Naraku's intent had still been realized. While her body had not been breached by the bastard's intended rape, her body had still been victimized by his unwanted touch.

There in the darkness, with only the moon's light to guide him, Inuyasha worked to chase the shadows from her gaze, to sooth Kagome's damaged flesh with his loving touch. He allowed Kagome to set the pace, however, her lips sliding over his in a genuine show of her affection. Inuyasha returned her kisses, their lips molding time after time in a loving display of heartfelt desire.

His hands slid over her shoulders, claws dragging softly over her skin. Inuyasha explored the dip of Kagome's waist, and the curve of her lower back. He pulled her closer, opening his mouth to her inquisitive tongue when it slid over the lower edge of his lip. She searched his mouth, tasted him as she pressed ever closer, biting down lightly on his tongue as her passion grew.

Inuyasha growled, electricity surging straight through his body. The kiss intensified in a heated joining of their mutual desire, stealing the breath from Kagome's lungs as a liquid fire rolled over and under her skin, burning away everything but Inuyasha's touch. He pulled away, trailing soft kisses over her jaw, down her throat.

Her senses came alive, and Kagome forgot how to breathe. Inuyasha's touch was electric, surging over her, through her, until she forgot everything but him. She pulled his hair, forcing his head back, and claimed his mouth in another soul-searching kiss, making him melt beneath her touch. Her hands trailed over his shoulders, molded over his skin, forcing a husky moan from Inuyasha's throat as Kagome searched the rigid muscles of his abdomen, hands trailing ever lower.

Her palms brushed over his stomach, fingers tangling in the ties of his pants. When Kagome tugged the knot free, Inuyasha nearly stopped her. He wanted her to be sure that this was what she wanted. But he lost his train of thought, forgot all but her, when Kagome kissed him again, her tongue dancing with his, their breath sounding heavy in his ears. Leaves fluttered in the forgotten breeze, and Inuyasha's eyes shut despite the overwhelming desire to watch the heat of their shared desire highlight Kagome's skin.

His hands curled around her bottom, and Inuyasha pulled her closer.

Inuyasha wanted Kagome to forget everything, wanted her to feel nothing but the heat of his skin, and the taste of his kiss. Inuyasha wanted her to remember his touch, and no one else's.

Inuyasha's fingers slid over her thigh.

Tonight was hers, and regardless of what happened here now, he would bow to her wishes should she choose never to allow him another moment like this in the future.

Inuyasha pulled free of Kagome's kiss, desperate to make certain that she knew what she was doing. He held her steady, keeping her from taking that step that neither could walk away from, not allowing her to give him the part of her innocence that she could never get back.

Because there was no going back after this: he'd never let her go. He'd told himself moments before that he would bow to her wishes should she come to regret this moment, but he knew instinctively that it would never happen. No man would ever know her like this; no one would ever see how passion brightened her deep brown eyes, or how desire lit her skin a deep, dusky rose.

"You're sure?" Inuyasha breathed, his body shaking with the effort being honorable demanded. He was desperate to take her as a man took his lover, but he wanted her to be certain. He needed to give her a way out should she decide this wasn't what she wanted after all.

Kagome stilled, her hands rising to touch his face, her fingers reverent, memorizing the features she found there.

"I won't let anyone else have you," Inuyasha swore," not now, not ever."

Kagome merely smiled, and it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen!

It was then, in the silence of the moment, that Inuyasha noticed the haunted gaze she'd had earlier, was gone. He could see simmering passion there now, and a heartfelt love he'd never noticed before, though he had no doubt that it had always been there.

If Kagome chose to continue, taking him for better or worse, Inuyasha swore he'd make sure that the look in Kagome's eyes right then would be there until the day he died.

Her hands found his, caressing them lightly as she bent to take his lips in a gentle kiss.

She whispered against his lips," I'm certain that I will love only you as I have loved you for so long already."

Inuyasha shifted, his hands sliding up Kagome's body to bury themselves in her hair. Pulling her down, Inuyasha kissed her again, a deep, soul searing kiss. He pulled away, his lips brushing against hers when he said, "I'm yours now, forever.

You'll never get rid of me."

Inuyasha felt her smile. "Shut up and love me," she purred, kissing him once more.

And when she pulled away, dragging in a lungful of air after another heated kiss, Inuyasha took her in the way a demon claimed his mate. His fangs sank deep in the flesh over her heart, his body taking hers, claiming her over and over until she cried out in ecstasy.

His body followed hers into paradise, binding them together, heart and soul. They were one; she'd given her body's innocence to him, knowing he would cherish it, a gesture of love that couldn't be taken from either of them.

And in this sharing of body and soul, their mutual enemy had failed: evil could never break her by taking that which could only be given, or taken, once:

The innocent love of her heart, her body, and her soul.

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**Notes:**

_I wanted to get this posted for those who wanted to read it, or started to and couldn't find it due to the deletion._

_I am recovering from my second brain surgery, albeit slower than I would like. When they removed the staples, it started leaking immediately, and when your primary care Dr. gets noticeably shaken, you know then that something is really wrong._

_The next morning I got a call from my uncle telling me that my Dad passed away… I'll stop there though because I haven't been able to process it- and the Dr's are worried that if I get really emotional, which WILL happen when the walls I put up (to shield myself from the emotional devastation losing him so suddenly caused) finally shatter, things will go from bad to worse in a hurry. And that's just a matter of time, and time's running out… walls can't stay up forever and mine splinters every single day._

_*Breathes in.* *Closes Eyes.* *Tries to forget while getting back to a safer topic.*_

_As of now I have a spinal fluid leak that hasn't stopped yet- meaning if it doesn't stop on its own, they will have to go back in and repatch the leaking patch inside...OR instal a shunt, run a tube down my back and into my stomach- neither option something I want to go through. They've put me on meds to slow the production of the spinal fluid in my brain in hopes that in doing so the patch that is leaking will heal itself. If not, I'm likely looking at brain surgery # 3. I have to stay on it for 1 more week, even though it makes me utterly and completely miserable._

_I am soooo hoping it doesn't go so far as surgery, again, but we won't know anything for sure until they stop the medicine, the spinal fluid starts building and moving to normal levels (which hurts like he**) then wait to see if the swelling returns over the next few days….._

_I hate waiting, lol._

Anyway-**Due to the prior deletion of this story, I lost all of your wonderful, encouraging reviews. The story had to go through a lot of chopping before the repost, so please do me a really big favor and let me know what you think of this version. If you would like to read the story in its original form, it is posted under my profile name, Neisha, on Archive of Our Own. In the event this story is deleted again, you may wish to leave a copy of any reviews on AO3 as well. If you do not have an account there, you may be asked for your email if you you decide to leave reviews, but it will not be published or used in any way. It is only used to prevent anonymous trolling. Thank you for all of your enthusiastic support. I have missed you all terribly and wish I could have let you all know sooner how I was doing. I will do my best to keep you all informed as to what happens next. ****  
**

If you notice any glaring errors, please let me know as my brain and I are still recovering from a 7 and a 1/2 hour surgery, as well as dealing with (or trying to, lol) the ongoing complications. If you find anything, just let me know and I'll do my very best to get them fixed as quickly as possible, okay? Thank you all for your encouragement and your support and for all your prayers. Hopefully soon I will be up and going again and writing like a mad woman so that I can post for you all like I used to before my health got the best of me.

Either way things go, however, I still plan to write for you guys, as you all have been the very best fan base I could ever ask for.

HUGS- MISS YOU ALL!

**Neisha**


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